Microsoft plans Windows 2000 Server retirement . The retirement announcement comes eight months after the introduction of Windows Server 2003, the successor to Windows 2000 Server. I'm sad to see it go... mostly because from a developers standpoint, Windows 2003 (and XP) is such a pain to deal with because of the pain in the *** licensing scheme. Gone are the days where I can just take a Win2K CD and install it on a few servers if I just need to do some testing to get my work done. Gone are the days where I can be more productive so the company I work for can sell more Microsoft products!